County Down House & Leisure Building, Irish Resdiential Project Photos, Design, Pictures

County Down House: Property

Irish Residential Property Development – design by Gottstein Architects in Ireland

22 Jun 2009

County Down Property

Ellenvale Extension, County Down
Date built: 2008
Catriona Duggan & Achim Gottstein Architects

Photos : Paul Tierney

Architect’s Comments

The farmhouse is situated on a large rural site in County Down surrounded by a mature garden. Built in the late 1820’s, the main house was originally designed with a two storey return that accommodated kitchen and servant spaces. By the 1960’s, the house had fallen into a state of disrepair and the two storey return was mostly demolished, leaving behind a single storey external garage. The plan of the main house was then re-configured to accommodate a small, north-facing kitchen and entrance porch. In making the modifications, the circulation was altered so that one had to travel through the living room to access the kitchen from the hallway.

In 2006, the new owners of the house wished to create a small kitchen extension where they could engage with the garden, provide a downstairs W.C. and create external access to a loft space in the garage.

The design intention was to re-establish the connection between the main house and the somewhat ‘left-over’ garage space. A sculptural form was created that would ‘fuse’ together the two buildings and accommodate the programmatic requirements of the brief. The form is expressed as a pure element made of white brick that is molded to create the kitchen extension, a new boiler house, external terrace and access stair to the loft.

The modesty of the intervention is reinforced by the use of a singular material – the white brick being suitable for use both internally and externally to form the walls, terrace and stairs, whilst visually uniting the white rendered forms of the house and garage. The solidity and robustness of the original stone walls are echoed in the walls of the extension and the services and drainage, together with the kitchen storage cupboards are concealed within the mass of the walls. Inside, the utility room has been relocated to beside the kitchen in order to rationalize the circulation and the new W.C. tucked under the stairs behind a timber-panelled wall.

County Down Residential Property – Building Information

Total area: 50 sqm
Internal: 29.7 sqm (11.7 sqm new extended area/ 18 sqm remodelled existing area)
External: 22.3 sqm external terraces and stairs/ boiler house

Contract Value: £40,000 Sterling

County Down House & Leisure Building images / information from Gottstein Architects

Location: County Down, Republic of Northern Ireland

Location: Ireland

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